Mark 1:40-45

Mark 1:40-45 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

"FILLED WITH COMPASSION" in older manuscripts is interpreted as "BEING ANGERED." I like the "being angered" version better than the "filled with compassion," in the above passage, for it espouses the anger God has towards sickness. He is not directing his anger towards sickness per se but at the devil who has contaminated the world to such a point that sickness exists. The Lord is compassionate! He sorrowed over John the Baptist's beheading; he wept for wayward Jerusalem. He sweat blood for lost humanity; nevertheless, He is also fearfully angry at the devil and his deeds. The devil took his perfect and "very good" creation and contaminated it. He took a people who reveled in God's presence and made them fear God. He took a creation in God's image and planted killing and warfare into it. Mayhem came out of peace, destruction out of creation, death out of life. For sure, the devil and his cohorts are God's enemies. God was angry. Jesus was angry at the devil for his corrupting disease of leprosy, but Jesus also had compassion, for he reached out his hand to the leper. To even touch a leper was a sin as far as canon law was concerned because touching a leper made you unclean and therefore separated from God. God will not tolerate sin in his presence. Sin faces a quick and lasting judgment in his presence. But Jesus was the fulfillment of the Law so He could touch a leper without God's judgment. He could touch a leper and not get the disease; He could touch sin and not be contaminated by it. So Jesus reached out in "compassion," too. How else could a sick and dying world be healed unless God touched them.

Jesus, THE GREAT INTERMEDIATOR HIMSELF, had to touch sin and death to bring "newborn" life to a sick and dying world. YES, JESUS WAS ANGRY AT THE DEVIL, BUT HE HAD A FATHER'S COMPASSION FOR A CHILD SICK UNTO DEATH. Jesus came to restore mankind to eternal health, to a full and complete relationship with Father God. No longer would the devil be exclusively mankind's father. No longer would men have to dance to the devil's tunes of bondage. No longer would mankind have an uncaring father who would give a stone to a hungry child instead of fish, who would provide dark, dank caves for a dwelling rather than well-lit, warm homes. No longer would Satan have free reign with mankind as the unfettered "prince of the air." No more would mankind be delivered to eternal death by him, for Light and Life has entered the world. The great Creator, the Prince of Peace came to Earth to set men free, to deliver them from the chains of death and despair. He came in the form of a child. "But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11) He came as a child, depicting that new life has come down to earth. And that life was the light and hope of mankind Now, anyone who believes in him will also have new life, will be "born again." We, too, through faith in him enter into a domain where the devil and sin cannot touch our eternal souls. We, too, one day will hear the very voice of God say, "Well done my child, enter into my eternal rest, for you are now mine, you are finally home. Receive my glory." Yes, Jesus reached out to the leper, to the world, and He is still compassionately reaching out. His compassion for us is great, but his anger towards the devil and his deeds is just as great, for the devil has has encompassed our lives with diseases and sins. However, it is the year of Jubilee: today, is the day of deliverance. Reach out to him, your Savior, Lord, and King; find his mercy, his goodness, his touch. Praise God, He is good! Amen and amen.